York County Reads pitches no-cost remote tutoring partnership to Rock Hill Schools

Lisa Belzer, executive director of York County Reads, told the Rock Hill School Board she and local partners are proposing a no-cost partnership to offer targeted literacy tutoring in Title I schools using a remote, data-driven tutoring platform developed by the Augustine Literacy Project (ALP).

"We provide no- to low-cost literacy instruction to underserved struggling readers in York County," Belzer said, and described ALP's evidence of impact from partner evaluations. Belzer noted ALP's reported results (UNC Charlotte study) showing first-graders in ALP programming were roughly twice as likely to reach benchmark compared with matched peers, and that ALP reduced cost per student in partner programs through a custom remote tutoring platform.

Belzer proposed starting with a planning phase this spring and summer, launching a pilot in one Title I school in the fall, and providing frequent data reports and semester evaluations. She emphasized the proposal would require a school and one room but no district funding, saying ALP would provide equipment and operational guidance while York County Reads would supply local staffing and coordination.

Board members asked whether the organization has bilingual volunteers (the district has more than 1,000 English learners). Belzer said York County Reads does not have bilingual volunteers on staff but pointed to ALP partner schools with high English-learner populations that have shown gains and described a cautious pilot starting with a small cohort to test integration.

Trustees expressed interest in further conversations and directed district staff to follow up with York County Reads for operational discussion and potential next steps. No formal board action was taken.